Charities and brand holders are always looking for new ways to achieve awareness and to generate revenue. An example of this was the Lifestrong(™) bracelets for cancer research. These yellow bracelets generated tremendous awareness and high donation revenue.
Soon other charities began making their own bracelets, e.g., for breast cancer education and research. These charities sought the same awareness and revenue rewards as achieved by the Lifestrong(™) bracelets. A great variety of bracelets for various charities of various colors and designs were then available to members, who were often overwhelmed and confused by the numerous available choices.
With multiple bracelets coming out for different charities, it didn't take long for scammers to figure out that they too could benefit by making bracelets. First, the scammers started making bracelets with different names and colors which implied that a legitimate charity was involved although no valid charity was actually involved. The scammers then moved on to directly counterfeiting the charities bracelets themselves. This caused not only reduced revenue for the charities, but also dilution of the charities' brands and thus dilution of the perceived value of the bracelets themselves.
It is thus desirable for a marketing/fundraising/reward system and method to provide for a product having aesthetic appeal, attractive personalization, anti-counterfeiting measures, and ease of identifying the charity.
It is also desirable that a marketing/fundraising/reward system and method provide for ease of determining what cause the member is supporting, the level of a member's support to a charity and a means of displaying that level to others.
It is also desirable that a marketing/fundraising/reward system and method provides for easy accounting of and addition to a member's support to a charity, and for easily accounting for and verifying rewards to the member either immediately, online or by mail.
It is also desirable that a marketing/fundraising/reward system and method deters theft.